Bomb squad called to OSU campus

Ohio State students and employees watched and waited as authorities responded to reports of a suspicious package on campus. Three university buildings were evacuated including Baker Systems Engineering where the package was spotted in the stairwell. A lab supervisor in the building Mary Hartzler said she saw the package. “The cleaning lady said she cleaned that stairwell that morning and it wasn’t there then,” she said.”About 7:00 this morning she cleaned that stairwell and it wasn’t there. There wasn’t any identification on it.” Hartzler says she tried to make sure the package did not belong to anyone before the maintenance staff contacted their supervisor. Heath Rittler, a senior in communications, was in a computer lab in the Baker Systems Engineering Building when the building was evacuated. “The fire alarm went off and they started roping stuff off,” he said. A section of Neil Avenue and areas around the building were closed for more than an hour as the bomb squad detonated what was discovered to be a toolbox in the stairwell of the Engineering Building. Columbus Division of Fire spokeswoman Kelly McGuire says there was no evidence of explosives. Rick Amweg of the University Police said an investigation into the owner of the toolbox continues. Thursday the bomb squad responded to several reports of suspicious packages at different locations throughout the city. Two arrests were made in connection with last week’s packages.